A new start
After that blow, he became determined never to go near the film business again. But after a few years in semi-retirement, he restarted his career in television. In 1989, he produced a TV series called The Postman Always Rings the Wrong Bells, with Ba Ge and Regina Tsang in leading roles.
Hsu will argue that because he has a fine arts background, and also because like most artistic people he enjoys innovation, he relished the challenge of filming a diverse range of subjects. He applies the same principle in making TV programs: his The Postman series, for example. Back then Taiwan lacked any of the real-life sitcoms which were at that time very popular abroad. He tried also to focus on what was happening in popular culture: for example the lotto gambling craze, the daily chaos of the national legislature, and the alleged cultural invasion from the US. Daily life also provided a host of silly situations that occur in every family home: a father accidentally soils the toilet seat leading to family turmoil, for example. This sort of thing found great popularity among local audiences.
Hsu's aim was spot-on, as The Postman was extremely popular. A number of sequels were shot, and as a result the postman "rang the bell" four times. The show became a classic still enjoyed today by many of its more nostalgic fans.
After his ventures into comedy, he realized with unique insight that local drama would become the future trend in Taiwan television. Thus, in the 1990s, he produced more than 20 highly praised TV series including Taiwan's Outlaws of the Marsh, The Romance of Taiwan, Taiwan's Robin Hood-Liao Tianding, In Search of New Life, Smile in Tonight's Dream, and A Zu. However, after breaking new ground in making these programs, with the arrival of Japanese and Korean soaps and the emergence of melodramatic Taiwanese shows in super-long series, Hsu had had enough of soap operas. In 2002, he launched Wind and Cloud, a new style of martial arts TV program that used a lot of animated effects.
Quality productions
The new series, adapted from Feng Yun, the work of famous comic artist Ma Wing-shing from Hong Kong, featured well-known actor Vincent Chiu in one of the leading roles. In order to maintain a high level of professionalism in the animation, Hsu invited a number of Taiwan's leading animation companies, including Digimax and Leader Asia Pacific Creativity Center, along with Shanghai Animation Film Studio, to form a creative team. Each episode cost NT$4 million, the whole production run reaching a record NT$160 million. Fortunately, the series became very popular, and reaped royalties of around NT$240 million from a number of regions including Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America. This production made something of a small fortune for Hsu.
"This experience taught me one thing: as long as you can tell a story well and create effective and exciting animation, you need have no worries about your investment!"
After the success of Wind and Cloud, Hsu developed enormous enthusiasm for animation, so in 2007 he produced another martial-arts TV series using computer-generated animation, The Sword and the Chess of Death. It also became very popular, and has recently been edited into a two-hour film version to be released in Iran.
After the experiences of Wind and Cloud and The Sword and the Chess of Death, Hsu felt very confident working in the animated genre, so he decided to make a leap into 3D.
Hsu insists that "the opportunity to make money should be kept at home," so the animation team for the film Nezha will be recruited from Taiwanese nationals only, including those resident overseas. One of Taiwan's leading IT companies will provide support for data storage and processing of the film's 3D images. This could be an unprecedented example in Taiwan film-making history: a perfect merging of IT and art. But, he says, it is not appropriate at this stage to release details of which company will be taking part.
Although initial estimates of capital reach NT$1 billion for the film, Hsu assures us, based on his rich experience as a veteran film director, that "if you make quality products, you don't need to worry too much!"
It seems that the veteran Hsu may prove more willing to accept challenges than the younger generation. His innovative 3D masterpiece Nezha is expected with great anticipation.